FMG Timberjack
skidder yarding cut maple during selective logging of hardwoods in a woodlot
in southern Ontario. Winter operations are one example of Low
impact Forestry. Harvesting at this time of year takes advantage of frozen
ground to minimize the impacts of logging.

Approximately 85% of New
Brunswick's land base is productive forest, providing wildlife habitat, landscape,
recreational opportunities, and high-quality water and air. Forestry is the
economic backbone of the province, directly employing 16,000 people, with
wages of more than $500 million annually. Pulp production is valued at more
than $1.5 billion each year, while solid wood products are worth about $500
million. Almost half the value of all exports from New Brunswick are derived
from the forest. Unlike other regions of Canada where the Crown owns the vast
majority of the forests, in the Maritimes a large proportion of these lands
are privately owned.

Forest ownership in New
Brunswick is distributed as follows:
30% is in private hands (usually woodlots on small parcels), 22% is in freehold
(usually in relatively large parcels), and the remaining 48% is Crown land
(mostly in immense tracts). For Canada as a whole private ownership makes
up only about 6% of forest lands.

Private and freehold lands
are owned by individuals and corporations. Crown lands are mostly allocated
to multinational forest product companies managing them under 25 year leases.
Crown and freehold lands are not where I expect to find the bulk of my potential
clientele.

Approximately 30% of the
wood harvested in New Brunswick comes off of small private holdings. On the
surface that would seem the expected share, since they are 30% of the province's
forested lands. However, not all owners are cutting in their forests- many
may be too small to make it economical, others are managing their land for
different objectives. The fact that the potential gap has been closed indicates
that the private woodlots that are being harvested are producing above average
volumes as compared to freehold and Crown lands.

The different rate of production
is not surprising however. The map at right showing Crown lands in green,
is also effectively showing private and freehold lands in white. When compared
to the population map above, and the elevation map below, one can see that
private lands are concentrated along river valleys and lowlands. Historically,
this is a typical pattern of rural development. Essentially the most productive
lands were settled first, precisely because of their rich soils and favorable
microclimates. What was left remained the property of the Crown. As agriculture
declined and farmland reverted to forest, it stayed private, becoming woodlots
and recreational properties.

From a forestry perspective
small private woodlots are under more diverse management and often subject
to more activity and value per acre than most Crown lands. This makes them
an ideal area for work with properly managed stream crossings, riparian forest
buffers, and Low Impact Forestry. Practices such as these maintain forest
quality, thereby protecting property values and productivity.

That kind of long term self
interest often motivates small private land owners to be good land stewards.
Next door, in Maine, a
recent study by the State Forest Service found that commercial landowners
(industry owned or large land ownerships managed primarily for commercial
timber production) only used such best management practices appropriately
31% of the time. Non-industrial private landowners used best management practices
appropriately 46% of the time. In both cases there was room for improvement,
however the small scale private owners seem more open to the adoption of improved
practices.

The
Provincial Government and Ducks Unlimited have recently partnered to help
agricultural producers with projects related to water quality and biodiversity
conservation. This Biodiversity
Enhancement Program, will fund wetland construction and restoration, beaver
pond management, and wildlife flushing bars. The opportunities for projects
in New Brunswick appear to be numerous, and that is what attracts me to the
province.

I don't want to be too dependent
on public funding however. In the past British Columbia has been a magnet
for business ventures similar to mine, except that the focus was on Crown
lands. Much of the reason for that was a provincial initiative called Forest
Renewal BC which had reasonably successful watershed and ecosystem restoration
programs. However when the BC Liberal party replaced the NDP government in
2001 they ended FRBC, trading it in for a less active program of their own.While not personally affected
by this turn of events, it does argue against investing resources, time, and
effort into a market so dependent on a single source of funding. Particularly
direct government funding, which can be sensitive to politics. Much better
to look at many diverse smaller sources.

Aside from
economics, a motivation for choosing to work in New Brunswick is the unique
character of the Acadian forest. It is the zone where the eastern hardwood
forests merge with northern boreal forests. In New Brunswick specifically,
the vegetation types are mixing over an impressive range of elevations. As
a result the province has the greatest diversity of forest communities and
tree species occurring at that latitude across North America. There are 32
different species of trees in the Acadian forest, with softwoods such as white
pine, red
spruce, eastern
hemlock, and northern
white-cedar; as well as hardwoods like beech,
northern
red oak, black
cherry, and white
ash. That mix alone would make it a fascinating place to work.